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In Memorium

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Wes Johnson: Visionary Historian

IN MEMORIAM: Douglas Heal Thayer (1929–2017)

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La’ie Mud Rhymes

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In Memoriam: Neil Longo

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In Memory of P.A. Christensen

Sister Ruth, family, in-laws, friends and relatives, Brothers and Sisters, it is an honor, but a humbling experience, to be invited to speak at the funeral of a great man, a great soul. I appreciate…

Church Historians I Have Known

This talk is necessarily going to be “oral history.” As such it is suspect, as most oral history must be. Time plays tricks on our memories. It beclouds our judgment, confuses people, bends our interpretations,…

Reflections on T. Edgar Lyon

T. Edgar Lyon, a healthy and rugged man who had hardly known a sick day, died at age seventy-five after a short, losing battle with cancer. In his death, his wife, six sons, and thirty-two grandchildren lost a gentle, loving husband and father, and the Church a great historian and teacher. 

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Wes Johnson: Visionary Historian

IN MEMORIAM: Douglas Heal Thayer (1929–2017)

IN MEMORIAM: Elouise Bell (1935–2017)

La’ie Mud Rhymes

Reverse Perspective

In Memoriam: Neil Longo

Stephen Webb: In Memoriam

In Memory of P.A. Christensen

Sister Ruth, family, in-laws, friends and relatives, Brothers and Sisters, it is an honor, but a humbling experience, to be invited to speak at the funeral of a great man, a great soul. I appreciate…

Church Historians I Have Known

This talk is necessarily going to be “oral history.” As such it is suspect, as most oral history must be. Time plays tricks on our memories. It beclouds our judgment, confuses people, bends our interpretations,…

Reflections on T. Edgar Lyon

T. Edgar Lyon, a healthy and rugged man who had hardly known a sick day, died at age seventy-five after a short, losing battle with cancer. In his death, his wife, six sons, and thirty-two grandchildren lost a gentle, loving husband and father, and the Church a great historian and teacher. 

In Memoriam: T. Edgar Lyon (1903-1978)

T. Edgar Lyon, well known to a generation of students at the University of Utah Institute of Religion, died on September 20, 1978, at the age of 75. Born and reared in Salt Lake City,…

When the Brightness Seems Most Distant

“It might not be a problem,” she said to her husband before rolling onto her stomach with a pillow clutched in her arms. She was tired from crying and wished sleep would overcome her. Though…

Leonard J. Arrington: Reflections on a Humble Walk

History itself—and historians in particular—will for years to come continue to assess the importance of Leonard J. Arrington to Mormon and western thought. From 1972, when he was appointed Church Historian, to his retirement as…

Selling the Chevrolet: A Moral Exercise (vol. 16, no. 3, Fall 1983)

This is the saddest story I have ever told. Not because The Chevrolet is gone, but because it probably is not. 

This much is known. During the Christmas season of 1973, Gene and Charlotte England traveled to Salt Lake City from Northfield, Minnesota. They made the trip in The Chevrolet—a brown stationwagon of uncertain origin.

Two Trains and a Dream

I. October 8, 1908: A Train

Pulled out of Green River, Wyoming, heading 
West toward Salt Lake City. The Mormon prophet, 
Joseph F. Smith, was going home from a visit 
to Boston, with his traveling companion.

The Weeping God of Mormonism

[1]In the book of Moses, revealed to Joseph Smith in 1830 as part of his re vision of the Bible, we learn of a prophet named Enoch, who is called to preach repentance to his…

Out in the Shop: In Memory of Grandpa

The sun shines a triangle through the hazed glass 
of the shop door, spotlighting the eternal snow of dust
falling and collecting, as if by magnetic force, 
on drill bits, saw blades, and boxes of nails. 

On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage (vol. 20, no. 4, Winter 1987)

This is an essay in speculative theology. In it I explore an idea—the general Mormon expectation of future polygamy—that has important religious and moral implications but about which there is little definite scriptural direction and…

Blessing the Chevrolet (vol. 9, no. 3, Fall 1975)

At various times I have heard and read, with mild curiosity, of the anointing of animals by the power of the priesthood in pioneer times, but it wasn’t until I found myself with my own hands placed in blessing on the hood of my Chevrolet that I really felt what that experience meant to those early Saints, who depended on their animals, as we do our cars, for quite crucial things. 

Eugene England: Our Brother in Christ

Brigham Young said there never was a time when he did not know Joseph Smith. What Brigham meant, I believe, is that when he first met Joseph Smith there was such a deep and immediate…

A Dining Room Table

If the tapestry that is my intellectual and spiritual life, Eugene Eng land’s influence not only figures as a prominent color, but helps to shape the pattern of the weave itself. Many of the moments…

A Brief Tour of England: My Year with Gene

We in Utah Valley State College’s Center for the Study of Ethics were sardines, but we were happy sardines. Our office (formerly a mythical beast called a “faculty lounge”) housed the chair of the humanities…

The Long Cast | Remarks at the Memorial Service for Eugene England, Provo, Utah. August 25, 2001

I want to talk about Gene as a fisherman, with a slight metaphorical emphasis. Gene’s father was a meat fisherman who believed in catching big fish and lots of them, using whatever method or bait…

Salvaged for Mormonism | Remarks at the Memorial Service for Eugene England, Provo, Utah. August 25, 2001

I feel greatly honored to be asked to speak at this memorial service. I hope I can add a dimension to our mutual recognition of Gene’s virtues and qualities. I suppose that Charlotte and the…

For Eugene | Remarks at the Memorial Service for Eugene England, Provo, Utah. August 25, 2001

I appreciate the opportunity to pay tribute to my life-long friend, Eu gene England, but my need to honor him properly may lie beyond any hope of my doing so. I feel Eugene’s loss so…

Tribute to Wayne C. Booth (1921–2005)

Wayne C. Booth, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, died on October 10, 2005. From humble beginnings in American Fork, Utah, he went on to become one of the…

Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

David Sjodahl King: A Tribute

Truman G. Madsen: A Glimpse from the Extended Family

Truman Madsen, Architect

Follow the Light, Lulie

Wes Johnson: Visionary Historian

IN MEMORIAM: Douglas Heal Thayer (1929–2017)

IN MEMORIAM: Elouise Bell (1935–2017)

La’ie Mud Rhymes

Reverse Perspective

In Memoriam: Neil Longo

Stephen Webb: In Memoriam

In Memory of P.A. Christensen

Sister Ruth, family, in-laws, friends and relatives, Brothers and Sisters, it is an honor, but a humbling experience, to be invited to speak at the funeral of a great man, a great soul. I appreciate…

Church Historians I Have Known

This talk is necessarily going to be “oral history.” As such it is suspect, as most oral history must be. Time plays tricks on our memories. It beclouds our judgment, confuses people, bends our interpretations,…

Reflections on T. Edgar Lyon

T. Edgar Lyon, a healthy and rugged man who had hardly known a sick day, died at age seventy-five after a short, losing battle with cancer. In his death, his wife, six sons, and thirty-two grandchildren lost a gentle, loving husband and father, and the Church a great historian and teacher. 

In Memoriam: T. Edgar Lyon (1903-1978)

T. Edgar Lyon, well known to a generation of students at the University of Utah Institute of Religion, died on September 20, 1978, at the age of 75. Born and reared in Salt Lake City,…

When the Brightness Seems Most Distant

“It might not be a problem,” she said to her husband before rolling onto her stomach with a pillow clutched in her arms. She was tired from crying and wished sleep would overcome her. Though…

Leonard J. Arrington: Reflections on a Humble Walk

History itself—and historians in particular—will for years to come continue to assess the importance of Leonard J. Arrington to Mormon and western thought. From 1972, when he was appointed Church Historian, to his retirement as…

Selling the Chevrolet: A Moral Exercise (vol. 16, no. 3, Fall 1983)

This is the saddest story I have ever told. Not because The Chevrolet is gone, but because it probably is not. 

This much is known. During the Christmas season of 1973, Gene and Charlotte England traveled to Salt Lake City from Northfield, Minnesota. They made the trip in The Chevrolet—a brown stationwagon of uncertain origin.

Two Trains and a Dream

I. October 8, 1908: A Train

Pulled out of Green River, Wyoming, heading 
West toward Salt Lake City. The Mormon prophet, 
Joseph F. Smith, was going home from a visit 
to Boston, with his traveling companion.

The Weeping God of Mormonism

[1]In the book of Moses, revealed to Joseph Smith in 1830 as part of his re vision of the Bible, we learn of a prophet named Enoch, who is called to preach repentance to his…

Out in the Shop: In Memory of Grandpa

The sun shines a triangle through the hazed glass 
of the shop door, spotlighting the eternal snow of dust
falling and collecting, as if by magnetic force, 
on drill bits, saw blades, and boxes of nails. 

On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage (vol. 20, no. 4, Winter 1987)

This is an essay in speculative theology. In it I explore an idea—the general Mormon expectation of future polygamy—that has important religious and moral implications but about which there is little definite scriptural direction and…

Blessing the Chevrolet (vol. 9, no. 3, Fall 1975)

At various times I have heard and read, with mild curiosity, of the anointing of animals by the power of the priesthood in pioneer times, but it wasn’t until I found myself with my own hands placed in blessing on the hood of my Chevrolet that I really felt what that experience meant to those early Saints, who depended on their animals, as we do our cars, for quite crucial things. 

Eugene England: Our Brother in Christ

Brigham Young said there never was a time when he did not know Joseph Smith. What Brigham meant, I believe, is that when he first met Joseph Smith there was such a deep and immediate…

A Dining Room Table

If the tapestry that is my intellectual and spiritual life, Eugene Eng land’s influence not only figures as a prominent color, but helps to shape the pattern of the weave itself. Many of the moments…

A Brief Tour of England: My Year with Gene

We in Utah Valley State College’s Center for the Study of Ethics were sardines, but we were happy sardines. Our office (formerly a mythical beast called a “faculty lounge”) housed the chair of the humanities…

The Long Cast | Remarks at the Memorial Service for Eugene England, Provo, Utah. August 25, 2001

I want to talk about Gene as a fisherman, with a slight metaphorical emphasis. Gene’s father was a meat fisherman who believed in catching big fish and lots of them, using whatever method or bait…

Salvaged for Mormonism | Remarks at the Memorial Service for Eugene England, Provo, Utah. August 25, 2001

I feel greatly honored to be asked to speak at this memorial service. I hope I can add a dimension to our mutual recognition of Gene’s virtues and qualities. I suppose that Charlotte and the…

For Eugene | Remarks at the Memorial Service for Eugene England, Provo, Utah. August 25, 2001

I appreciate the opportunity to pay tribute to my life-long friend, Eu gene England, but my need to honor him properly may lie beyond any hope of my doing so. I feel Eugene’s loss so…

Tribute to Wayne C. Booth (1921–2005)

Wayne C. Booth, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, died on October 10, 2005. From humble beginnings in American Fork, Utah, he went on to become one of the…

Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008)

David Sjodahl King: A Tribute

Truman G. Madsen: A Glimpse from the Extended Family

Truman Madsen, Architect

Follow the Light, Lulie